Installing and uninstalling the product on distributed operating systems

IBM® Installation Manager is a common installer for many IBM software products that you use to install this version of WebSphere® Application Server.

Before you begin

New feature New feature: WebSphere Application Server Version 8.0 is the first full version to be installed by IBM Installation Manager rather than by the ISMP-based installer, Update Installer, and Installation Factory programs that are used to install and maintain previous versions. Installation Manager is a single installation program that can use remote or local software flat-file repositories to install, modify, or update new WebSphere Application Server products. It determines and shows available packages—including products, fix packs, interim fixes, and so on—checks prerequisites and interdependencies, and installs the selected packages. You also use Installation Manager to easily uninstall the packages that it installed. Important: Do not use the same response files that are used with WebSphere Application Server Version 7.0 or earlier to install or uninstall Version 8.0 and later; use response files that are based on Installation Manager to install, update, or uninstall Version 8.0 and later.
Overview of IBM Installation Manager:

IBM Installation Manager is a general-purpose software installation and update tool that runs on a range of computer systems. Installation Manager can be invoked through a graphical user interface (GUI) or a command-line interface. You can also create response files in XML and use them to direct the performance of Installation Manager tasks in silent mode.

For more information on using Installation Manager, read the IBM Installation Manager Version 1.5 Information Center.

Packages and package groups:

Each software product that can be installed with Installation Manager is referred to as a package. An installed package has a product level and an installation location. A package group consists of all of the products that are installed at a single location.

Installation Manager modes:
IBM Installation Manager can be installed in one of the following three modes:
  • In admin mode, the Installation Manager is installed from an administrator or a root ID and can be invoked by any administrator or root user.
  • In nonAdmin mode (also called user mode), the Installation Manager can be invoked only by the user that installed it.
  • In group mode, the Installation Manager can be invoked by any user ID that is connected to the default group of the user that installed it.

    This does not mean that two people can use the single instance of IBM Installation Manager at the same time.

How many Installation Managers do you need:

You only need to run Installation Manager on those systems on which you install or update product code. You normally need only one Installation Manager on a system because one Installation Manager can keep track of any number of product installations.

Installing Installation Manager:

When the installation kit is available on your system, you can install Installation Manager. Installation Manager consists of a set of binaries that are copied from the installation kit and a set of runtime data that describe the products that have been installed by this particular Installation Manager. Before installing Installation Manager, you must decide in which mode the Installation Manager will run as well as where the binaries and runtime data—called agent data or appdata—will reside. Then, you issue an Installation Manager installation command from the appropriate user ID to install Installation Manager.

Accessing product repositories:

All software materials that will be installed with IBM Installation Manager are stored in flat-file repositories. Each repository contains program objects and metadata for one or more packages—that is, software products at a particular level. Repositories can also contain product maintenance, such as fix packs and interim fixes. Whenever you install a new product, you can choose from any of the available product levels in any accessible repository.

Installing the product:

After you have installed Installation Manager and have access to all necessary product repositories, you can use the Installation Manager GUI, command-line commands, or response files to perform the actual product installations. When you install a product, you provide the package name, optionally the product level to be installed, the product location, and any other optional properties. For example, some products have optional features that you can select at installation time or a list of optional supported language packs from which you can select.

Working with installed products:

You can use Installation Manager commands to list installed products and product levels. You can also obtain this information for installed copies of WebSphere Application Server Version 8.5 products by issuing the versionInfo command from the product file system. You can use Installation Manager commands or response files to install a new product level, roll back to a previous level, or modify the product by adding or removing optional features or language packs.

Using IBM Packaging Utility:

IBM Packaging Utility is a companion tool for Installation Manager with which you can create and manage custom Installation Manager repositories for your organization. You can copy multiple packages, maintenance levels, and fixes into a single repository. Packaging Utility copies from source repositories to your target custom repositories. Source repositories can include any accessible Installation Manager repository, including IBM web-hosted product repositories and unzipped Passport Advantage® downloads. For more information on Packaging Utility, go to the IBM Packaging Utility Information Center.

Packaging Utility Version 1.5.2 introduced the capability to create "platform-scoped" repositories. The -platform option of the Packaging Utility copy command allows you to further customize and reduce the size of your repository by maintaining content for only those platforms that your organization uses. For more information, read Command-line arguments for pucl. If you specify unsupported operating-system and architecture combinations for WebSphere Application Server offerings when you use the -platform option of the Packaging Utility copy command, however, unusable local repositories might be created. The following table lists valid combinations for creating a local WebSphere Application Server offering repository that is sliced by operating system and architecture.
Table 1. Valid combinations for creating a local WebSphere Application Server offering repository using the Packaging Utility copy command
Platform Options Resulting Repository
Windows os=win32,arch=x86

os=win32

Windows 32 bit and 64 bit
Linux Intel os=linux,arch=x86 Linux Intel 32 bit and 64 bit
Linux Power® os=linux,arch=ppc Linux Power 32 bit and 64 bit
zLinux os=linux,arch=s390 zLinux 32 bit and 64 bit
AIX® os=aix AIX 32 bit and 64 bit
Solaris Sparc os=solaris,arch=sparc Solaris Sparc 32 bit and 64 bit
Solaris Intel os=solaris,arch=x86 Solaris Intel 64 bit
HP-UX Itanium os=hpux HP-UX Itanium 64 bit
IBM i os=os400 IBM i
z/OS® os=zos z/OS
Restriction: [Updated in January 2013] When using the Packaging Utility command-line interface (PUCL.exe) that is available in the Packaging Utility installation folder, you can only specify the -platform parameter once. [Updated in January 2013]
jan2013
Important: Installation Manager can install any fix-pack level of the product directly without installing the interim fix packs; in fact, Installation Manager installs the latest level by default. For example, you can skip fix-pack levels and go from Version 8.0.0.1 directly to Version 8.0.0.5. Keep in mind, however, that later you can not roll back to any level that was skipped. If you directly install to Version 8.0.0.5, for example, you cannot roll back to Version 8.0.0.4. If you skip from Version 8.0.0.1 to Version 8.0.0.5, you can only roll back to Version 8.0.0.1. You should plan your installations accordingly.newfeat
Restrictions:
  • If you have an Alpha or a Beta version of WebSphere Application Server Version 8 and Installation Manager installed, uninstall them before installing the generally available versions.
  • For any Linux system that is enabled for Security Enhanced Linux (SELinux), such as Red Hat Enterprise Linux Version 5 or SUSE Linux Enterprise Server Version 11, you must identify the Java shared libraries in the Installation Manager Version 1.4.3 or earlier installation image to the system. Also, you must identify the Java shared libraries in the Installation Manager Version 1.4.3 or earlier installation after it has been installed. For example:
    chcon -R -t texrel_shlib_t ${IM_Image}/jre_5.0.3.sr8a_20080811b/jre/bin
    chcon -R -t texrel_shlib_t ${IM_Install_root}/eclipse/jre_5.0.3.sr8a_20080811b/jre/bin 
  • If a non-administrator installs WebSphere Application Server Version 8 on a Windows Vista, Windows 7, or Windows Server 2008 operating system into the Program Files or Program Files (x86) directory with User Account Control (UAC) enabled, WebSphere Application Server will not function correctly.

    UAC is an access-control mechanism that allows non-administrative users to install a software product into the Program Files or Program Files (x86) directory; but it then prohibits any write access to that directory after the installation has completed. WebSphere Application Server requires write access in the app_server_root directory in order to function correctly.

    To resolve this issue, perform one of the following actions:
    • Install WAS into a directory other than Program Files or Program Files (x86).
      For example:
      C:\IBM\WebSphere\AppServer
    • Disable UAC.
  • When you install WebSphere Application Server Version 8.0 using Installation Manager with local repositories, the installation takes a significantly longer amount of time if you use the repository.zip file directly without extracting it.

    Before you install WebSphere Application Server Version 8.0 using Installation Manager with local repositories, extract the repository.zip file to a location on your local system and add that location to your Installation Manager preferences.

  • Installation Manager console mode, which is included in Installation Manager Version 1.4.3 and later, does not work with WebSphere Application Server Version 8.0 offerings on systems other than z/OS.
  • You can use 64-bit Installation Manager Version 1.6 for the following installations only:
    • WebSphere Application Server Version 8.0.0.5 and later
    Using 64-bit Installation Manager Version 1.6 for anything else can result in issues with installation and deployment.
  • You can use 64-bit Installation Manager Version 1.6.2 or later to install this offering on Windows systems.
Important: Do not transfer the content of a repository in non-binary mode and do not convert any content on extraction.
Tip: Although almost all of the instructions in this section of the information center will work with earlier versions of IBM Installation Manager, the information here is optimized for users who have installed or upgraded to Installation Manager Version 1.5 or later.

About this task

Perform one of these procedures to install or uninstall the product using Installation Manager.

Procedure

Results

Notes® on logging and tracing:
  • An easy way to view the logs is to open Installation Manager and go to File > View Log. An individual log file can be opened by selecting it in the table and then clicking the Open log file icon.
  • Logs are located in the logs directory of Installation Manager's application data location. For example:
    • Administrative installation:
      C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\IBM\Installation Manager
    • Non-administrative installation:
      C:\Documents and Settings\user_name\Application Data\IBM\Installation Manager
    • Administrative installation:
      /var/IBM/InstallationManager
    • Non-administrative installation:
      user_home/var/ibm/InstallationManager
  • The main log files are time-stamped XML files in the logs directory, and they can be viewed using any standard web browser.
  • The log.properties file in the logs directory specifies the level of logging or tracing that Installation Manager uses. To turn on tracing for the WebSphere Application Server plug-ins, for example, create a log.properties file with the following content:
    com.ibm.ws=DEBUG
    com.ibm.cic.agent.core.Engine=DEBUG
    global=DEBUG
    Restart Installation Manager as necessary, and Installation Manager outputs traces for the WebSphere Application Server plug-ins.
Notes on troubleshooting:
  • By default, some HP-UX systems are configured to not use DNS to resolve host names. This could result in Installation Manager not being able to connect to an external repository.

    You can ping the repository, but nslookup does not return anything.

    Work with your system administrator to configure your machine to use DNS, or use the IP address of the repository.

  • In some cases, you might need to bypass existing checking mechanisms in Installation Manager.
    • On some network file systems, disk space might not be reported correctly at times; and you might need to bypass disk-space checking and proceed with your installation.
      To disable disk-space checking, specify the following system property in the config.ini file in IM_install_root/eclipse/configuration and restart Installation Manager:
      cic.override.disk.space=sizeunit  
      where size is a positive integer and unit is blank for bytes, k for kilo, m for megabytes, or g for gigabytes. For example:
      cic.override.disk.space=120 (120 bytes)
      cic.override.disk.space=130k (130 kilobytes)
      cic.override.disk.space=140m (140 megabytes)
      cic.override.disk.space=150g (150 gigabytes)
      cic.override.disk.space=true
      Installation Manager will report a disk-space size of Long.MAX_VALUE. Instead of displaying a very large amount of available disk space, N/A is displayed.
    • To bypass operating-system prerequisite checking, add disableOSPrereqChecking=true to the config.ini file in IM_install_root/eclipse/configuration and restart Installation Manager.
    If you need to use any of these bypass methods, contact IBM Support for assistance in developing a solution that does not involve bypassing the Installation Manager checking mechanisms.
  • Installation Manager might display a warning message during the uninstallation process.

    Uninstalling WebSphere Application Server Version 8.0 using Installation Manager requires that the data repositories remain valid and available.

  • For more information on using Installation Manager, read the IBM Installation Manager Version 1.4 Information Center or the IBM Installation Manager Version 1.5 Information Center.
    Read the release notes to learn more about the latest version of Installation Manager. To access the release notes, complete the following task:
    • Click Start > Programs > IBM Installation Manager > Release Notes.
    • Go to the documentation subdirectory in the directory where Installation Manager is installed, and open the readme.html file.
  • If a fatal error occurs when you try to install the product, take the following steps:
    • Make a backup copy of your current product installation directory in case IBM support needs to review it later.
    • Use Installation Manager to uninstall everything that you have installed under the product installation location (package group). You might run into errors, but they can be safely ignored.
    • Delete everything that remains in the product installation directory.
    • Use Installation Manager to reinstall the product to the same location or to a new one.

Note on version and history information: The versionInfo and historyInfo commands return version and history information based on all of the installation, uninstallation, update, and rollback activities performed on the system.

For transitioning users For transitioning users: Beginning with WebSphere Application Server Version 8.0, you cannot use the installation registry utility (the installRegistryUtils command) to list installed products and packages. Use the Installation Manager imcl command to list installed products and packages for WebSphere Application Server Version 8.0 and later. See the IBM Installation Manager Version 1.4 Information Center or the IBM Installation Manager Version 1.5 Information Center for information on using this command.trns



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Last updatedLast updated: Feb 6, 2014 11:19:27 PM CST
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